Hop Along

August 23, 2025

As I appreciate the last bouts of warm weather, I’m reflecting on what turned out to be an eventful summer. Toward the end of July, my girlfriend and I met up in New Jersey (me from Boston and her from D.C.) to spend the weekend at the beach, etc, but also go to the Make the World Better Concert in Philadelphia at FDR Park. My favorite band, Hop Along, was playing and I just couldn’t forgive myself if I passed up the opportunity; regardless, the effort was justified by making a whole nice weekend out of it.

After we drove up to Philly and made it to FDR, the heavens themselves opened up and broke into a torrential downpour. The concert was paused, the venue was evacuated, and we were relegated back to the car. Although the rain only lasted some 15 minutes, there were no updates, and the next hour was spent refreshing Instagram at sporadic intervals. Very fortunately, the concert did start back up again (albeit with a compressed setlist).

So, I ended up seeing Hop Along live. Although I might have been in the minority (coming to see Frances in particular) against the masses there for Lucy Dacus, it was really great. They mostly played from Painted Shut, with a few other good ones interspersed, like Tibetan Pop Stars, at the end. I would have been ecstatic to hear older songs–my second favorite is probably Second Name–but knew the chances were next to none there. Anyway, I was able to hear my favorite song (Sister Cities) so I was very happy. I love how each performance is so unique, and thought this rendition was really good as well. I did yell once or twice, so do excuse my excitement.